Administrator Michael Regan, Remarks For Michigan EJ Conference, As Prepared for Delivery

May 18, 2021

Thank you, Leisl, for that introduction. It’s a pleasure to be here for Michigan’s first-ever Environmental Justice Conference.

The fact that we’re here today, kicking-off a three-day conference dedicated to addressing systemic inequities, is a testament to Governor Whitmer’s leadership. I’m grateful to the Governor and her team for prioritizing environmental justice – not in name only, but in real, tangible actions that have resources behind them.

The Governor recognizes that delivering progress on environmental justice cannot be achieved by one person or one entity. So, she established the Michigan Advisory Council on Environmental Justice, the Interagency Environmental Justice Response Team, and the Office of the Environmental Justice Public Advocate. This sends a powerful signal that Michigan is working hard to ensure that all people benefit equitably from the protections and policies of their state government.

Ensuring equitable protections for all people… there is no mission more important than that.

As some of you may know, I got my start at EPA more than 20 years ago. Environmental justice has been near and dear to my heart since the very beginning. Most recently, as Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, I established the state’s first environmental justice and equity advisory board, bridging environmentalism and civil rights to find solutions that empower our fence line and underserved communities.

It’s also not lost on me that in more than 50 years since EPA was created, I’m the first Black man and only second person of color to serve as administrator. And like Vice President Harris, I’m the first graduate of a Historically Black College and University to serve in this role. It’s an honor – and a responsibility I don’t take lightly.

We have a lot of ground to make up at EPA and across this country to uplift the communities who’ve long suffered at the hands of indifference, of neglect, of inaction.

But I’m proud to say, it’s a new day at EPA, and it’s a new day in the White House. So, I’m hopeful about where we’re headed as a nation. The progress you’re making right here, in the great State of Michigan, also gives me hope. And while Michigan is certainly ahead of the game, it’s not alone – there are many states that have made significant advances on environmental justice.

At EPA, we’re excited about deepening the state and federal partnership to build on that progress. We've set aside funds for providing technical assistance to states who want to use EPA's EJ SCREEN or develop their own mapping tools to help local decision-makers and the public see where communities may be overburdened by pollution.

We’ve reinitiated our State Environmental Justice Cooperative Agreement program, making financial resources available for states and other governmental partners to address environmental justice concerns.

I’m proud that Congress acknowledged EPA’s essential role in closing the healthy disparity gap through the American Rescue Plan. The law earmarks $100 million for EPA, including $50 million targeted specifically to advance environmental justice and at least $40 million to help states, Tribes, and localities improve air quality for their communities. We’re working through the best uses of those funds and seeing where those dollars will go the furthest in helping communities hit hardest from COVID-19, the economic downturn, and the environmental burdens they face.

If there were ever a moment when the United States could break the pattern of environmental injustice that has long plagued this country, I believe that moment is now… nearly 40 years after Black residents in Warren County, North Carolina protested the construction of a PCB landfill in their community… and seven years after the suffering of children in Flint, Michigan shined a bright light on how people of color unjustly bear the burden of polluted water.

Today, COVID-19 has magnified the daily injustices facing our communities of color – the same communities who suffer disproportionately from the impacts of climate change, who face higher rates of heart and lung disease, and whose children are more likely to develop asthma.

Under President Biden’s leadership, we will not allow these health disparities to hold back generations of Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and low-income people any longer.   

During his first days in office, President Biden signed an executive order that pledges to prioritize environmental justice and to put the whole of government behind advancing a systematic approach to racial justice, civil rights, and equal opportunity.

The executive order established the Justice40 Initiative, which sets a goal to deliver 40% of the benefits from federal investments to underserved communities. It’s a critical opportunity to invest in the cleanup of legacy pollution, to create clean energy jobs in disadvantaged communities, and to help elevate environmental protection for all people.

The President also established a White House Environmental Justice Interagency Council to coordinate environmental justice work across federal agencies, as well as a new White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council that is made up of EJ experts who provide guidance to the President and across the entire Administration.  

EPA plays an important role in all these efforts. We’re also relying on the wisdom of the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council, a federal advisory committee that has been providing recommendations to EPA since the early ‘90s.

And through the President’s American Jobs Plan – a proposal that would help address persistent racial injustices – we will tackle one of the root causes of the Flint crisis. The plan calls for replacing 100% of the lead pipes that plague too many American communities, many of which are communities of color and low-income.

I’m proud that environmental justice is finally taking its rightful place across the entire federal government – not as an add on or afterthought – but as a central driving factor in all that we do. At EPA, environmental justice is part of our DNA, because it’s our obligation to empower the people who’ve been left out of the conversation for too long.

That’s why I issued a directive to all EPA staff on environmental justice. I believe it’s important to be explicit about the full meaning of our mission, so that EPA staff have clear direction from me on ways we can make a tangible difference in peoples’ lives. All offices are now working to incorporate environmental justice into their work, including our regulatory, permitting, and enforcement activities.

Everyone in this country deserves the assurance that the EPA will vigorously address violations of laws that keep people safe from environmental hazard and harm. That is especially true for communities of color and low-income communities who’ve struggled to have their voices heard and concerns addressed.

Without strong civil, criminal, and clean-up enforcement, we cannot deliver on EPA’s mission to protect human health and the environment. Without tough enforcement, we cannot reap the benefits from action on climate change and on environmental justice.

Communities need to see this work in action. 

Last week, I ordered the Limetree Bay Refinery in the U.S. Virgin Islands to immediately pause all operations due to repeated incidents that have polluted the air and sickened many members of the community. This is only the fourth time in EPA history that we’ve taken such an action to halt facility operations under Section 303 of the Clean Air Act.

When we have concerns about proposals that might cause harm to public health in already overburdened communities, we will not be shy about vocalizing those concerns – just like we recently did in Chicago, where there’s plans for a car-shredding operation in the Southeast Side.

The Southeast Side currently ranks at the highest levels for many pollution indicators – from lead paint and air toxics cancer risk to Superfund site proximity and hazardous waste proximity. This is a community that’s been hurting for a long time from decades of environmental injustice.

I’m grateful to Mayor Lori Lightfoot for promptly suspending the city’s permit review until a thorough environmental justice analysis is completed.

I mention the St. Croix and Chicago examples because they epitomize the problem with environmental injustice – and to underscore that this EPA will not hesitate to use our authority to enforce the law and to protect people from dangerous pollution where they “live, work, pray, play, and go to school.” On day one, I told the dedicated staff at EPA that our work in the years ahead will be guided by the belief that all people in this country have the right to clean air, clean water, and healthier lives – no matter the color of their skin, the money in their pocket, or the community they live in.

We’re going to live and breathe that mission. In doing so, we will ensure that every child in the United States of America can safely drink from the faucet, inhale a full breath of clean, fresh air, and play outdoors, without risk of environmental hazard or harm.

Our legacy will be one of compassion, understanding, and most importantly, action.

Thank you.